Think of words ending in -GRY.?

You are told wrong! There isn't one!

This 'riddle' has been circulating in email for years now, in various forms of words, and had appeared in print media before that. Dictionary and reference departments the world over have been plagued by questions about it. It seems to have originated as a trick question, but the wording has become so garbled in subsequent transmission that it is hard to tell what was originally intended.

The most probable answer is that, in the original wording, the question was phrased something like this:

Think of words ending in -gry. 'Angry' and 'hungry' are two of them. What is the third word in the English language? You use it every day, and if you were listening carefully, I've just told you what it is.

The answer, of course, is 'language' (the third word in 'the English language').

There are several other English words ending in -gry which are listed in the complete Oxford English Dictionary, but none of them could be described as common. They include the trivial oddities un-angry and a-hungry, and

* aggry: aggry beads, according to various 19th-century writers, are coloured glass beads found buried in the ground in parts of Africa.

* begry: a 15th-century spelling of beggary.

* conyngry: a 17th-century spelling of the obsolete word conynger, meaning 'rabbit warren', which survives in old English field names such as 'Conery' and 'Coneygar'.

* gry: the name for a hundredth of an inch in a long-forgotten decimal system of measurement devised by the philosopher John Locke (and presumably pronounced to rhyme with 'cry').

* higry-pigry: an 18th-century rendition of the drug hiera picra.

* iggry: an old army slang word meaning 'hurry up', borrowed from Arabic.

* meagry: a rare obsolete word meaning 'meagre-looking'.

* menagry: an 18th-century spelling of menagerie.

* nangry: a rare 17th-century spelling of angry.

* podagry: a 17th-century spelling of podagra, a medical term for gout.

* puggry: a 19th-century spelling of the Hindi word pagri (in English usually puggaree or puggree), referring either to a turban or to a piece of cloth worn around a sun-helmet.

* skugry: 16th-century spelling of the dialect word scuggery meaning 'secrecy' (the faint echo of 'skulduggery' is quite accidental!).

"meagry" would seem to answer the question, at least in this form. If u feel the answer is wrong, then i wud say...

The puzzle is WRONG. "It's a fraud, it's a fake," says also Will Shortz, who is the puzzle editor of the New York Times and the host of a puzzle segment on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition (NPR, 11/10/96). The actual truth is that

NO other common English word ends in -gry! It's a trick question -- and the trick, at least in some versions, has been lost. Word-puzzle fans and reference librarians have been trying for years to track the question's history to find the original answer. But to do that we need to know what the original question was. And there are several different versions in circulation purporting to be the original.

This is yet another sad question that has appeared hundreds of times. The answer is 'Language', being the third word in the phrase 'the English language'. However there are several words ending in -gry. Look them up. Thanks for the points.

Language.

English

There are only 3 words in "the English language". The third word is "language"

this riddle doesn't work when you type it out. Because when you say it aloud, you can mean "The English Language", but when typed and read it has a whole different meaning without the quotations. The answer is Language, because you were talking about the phrase "The English Language", but as I said before, it doesn't work the same way when typed.

There are many -gry words...

affect-hungry fire-angry MacLoingry Seagry

aggry Gagry mad-angry self-angry

Agry girl-hungry mad-hungry selfe-angry

ahungry gonagry magry sensation-hungry

air-hungry gry malgry sex-angry

anhungry haegry man-hungry sex-hungry

Badagry half-angry managry Shchigry

Ballingry hangry mannagry shiggry

begry heart-angry Margry Shtchigry

bewgry heart-hungry maugry sight-hungry

boroughmongry higry pigry mawgry skugry

bowgry hogry meagry Sygry

braggry hogrymogry meat-hungry Tangry

Bugry hongry menagry Tchangry

Chockpugry hound-hungry messagry Tchigry

Cogry houngry music-hungry tear-angry

cony-gry huggrymuggry nangry th'angry

conyngry hund-hungry overangry tike-hungry

cottagry Hungry Bungry Pelegry Tingry

Croftangry hwngry Pingry toggry

diamond-hungry iggry Podagry ulgry

dog-hungry Jagry Pongry unangry

dogge-hungry job-hungry pottingry vergry

Dshagry kaingry power-hungry Vigry

Dzagry land-hungry profit-hungry vngry

eard-hungry Langry puggry war-hungry

Echanuggry leather-hungry pugry Wigry

Egry ledderhungry red-angry wind-hungry

euer-angry life-hungry rungry yeard-hungry

ever-angry Lisnagry scavengry yird-hungry

fenegry losengry Schtschigry Ymagry

An-gry

language